Darya woke up first and smiled as she saw the Elm and Milo still asleep. At least those two had some well-deserved rest. Her eyes fell on her gloved hands. She could only hope Surya had seen her symbols, and that they were bringing her back to her arms. Her throat closed up and tears threatened to spill as she thought about every possibility for Surya. Was she alright? Was she wounded? Was she even alive? She didn’t doubt her wife’s ability for fighting and survival, but almost all the victims left in that camp were humans. She really hoped she hadn’t missed Surya asking for help somewhere in the camp and left her to die alone. Many scenarios, all sadder and worse than the previous one lined up in her head, snaked around her throat and tightened until she thought she couldn’t breathe. A great yawn and a stretch coming from her left side took her away from the suffocating thoughts. Milo was still sleeping, only half-conscious, he laid on the traveling mattress, his arms reaching up far above his head and his legs free from any more tension.

“Slept well?” Darya asked, amused by Milo’s position.

She earned a nod and an agreeing moan from the teen, causing her to let a chuckle escape her lips. The sound died down as soon as she saw Milo’s bandage. It must’ve become looser and had undone itself during the night, revealing smooth reddish skin with no trace of the thread she had used, where a day before was a wound that should’ve left at least some sort of scar. Panic took over Darya as she suddenly crawled over to Milo and inspected the skin.

“What are you doing? Stop it!” Milo exclaimed, surprised by the sudden movement.

The plea took Darya out of her frenzy and she sat back down, giving a look of concern to the young teenager.

“How did you do that?” she asked, pointing at Milo’s side.

“What do you mean?”

“Your wound, how did you make it disappear?” she asked more clearly this time.

Milo’s eyes trailed slowly to his stomach. Although the bandages still had dried blood on them, no wound seemed to be there, as if it had vanished during the night. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at his side.

“What do you mean;“how did you make it disappear?”? You’re a green witch Darya, that’s what you do,” said Jesse from the kitchen, wooden spoon in hand and confused by the entire ordeal.

Darya was too stunned by his answer to speak. He did not know. A sudden flash of pain coursed through her right hand, awful thoughts reared their little heads in the back of her mind. Darya cursed under her breath and rushed outside, suddenly needing air. Jesse called after her, searching for any type of explanation as Darya’s breath quickened as she recognized the pain in her palm. She took off her glove and started rubbing it as she walked back and forth like a caged lion, trying to keep her mind and her pain under control, closing her eyes from time to time and forcing her breathing to be slow and thoughtful. She didn’t hear Jesse’s plea for her to calm down, or for her to give him an answer before he took her by the shoulders and forced her attention on him.

“What have you done?!” he asked shaken up, his finger digging into her shoulder, his brows knitted in worry and anxiousness as he tried to come up with an explanation by himself.

For the first time that day, Darya looked down at her ungloved hands. Long gone was the green wash that colored them. Now stayed an ugly and deathly sigil, marking her as a vessel of death until her task was completed, spreading under her skin like poison.

“I had to save you.” was all she could say as she bore her green eyes into his yellow ones, the flashes of a younger and weaker Jesse coming back to her. “I wasn’t strong enough, so I traded my vow for your health.”

Jesse's heart sank to his stomach as his hand let go of the former eastern witch. Not her. Of all people, couldn’t she have been spared? The only one alive who deserved none of what had happened, even she couldn’t live fully.

“Why would you do that?!” he screamed, causing a recoil from her. “Why would you ever do that to yourself?!” he repeated, his voice breaking mid-sentence.

Darya didn’t even have the chance to answer before a fast blur of brown and blue tackled Jesse to the floor. Surya was on top of Jesse, pinning him to the ground by the right horn and pressing a sword to his throat, ready to slice it if she needed to. Her stare was almost bestial, threatening to tear him to pieces at the slightest move.

“Surya, please calm down.” Darya pleaded as she stepped toward her wife and placed a gentle hand on her back. “It’s Jesse.”

At the sound of the demon’s name, Surya’s stare softened. She looked at his face, taking in what he looked like. For the first time since Darya had opened up about the sigil in her hand, she could put a face to that name. The woman warily stood up, reluctantly helping the demon to stand up as well. She kept her eyes on him as Darya turned her around and hugged her with all her might.

“I’m so glad you’re alive.” whispered Darya into her neck.

“I’m glad you’re safe.” Surya answered back, taking her eyes off of Jesse, closing them as she embraced her wife back.

Heavy steps echoed throughout the little clearing that surrounded Jesse’s house. Jesse’s head turned to the culprit, a young man in his mid-twenties, wearing glasses, a red scarf, and clutching a notebook in his arms. His breath was quick and his face unusually red, as if he had been running for ages. He stopped a few paces away from them, putting his hands on his knees and wheezing from the effort.

“Sir, are you okay?” asked Milo.

The young boy had come out of the house after Darya and Jesse but the screaming had stopped him at the door. Right behind him was a freshly awoken Elm, who struggled to understand what had been happening that morning. Henry looked at them, surprised they were even still alive.

“Yeah,” he said, taking back his breath, “Yeah I’m fine.”

Henry stood upright, still looking at the children like he was seeing ghosts.

“Henry!” called out Darya as she left Surya to meet him. “I’m glad you’re still alive.”

“Glad I’m alive as well”, he answered, taking his eyes away from the children to look back at his teacher, shooting her a warm smile. “Where are we?” he asked.

“Jesse’s house, I knew him a while back.” she explained.

Jesse could only observe the scene from the outside. Surya had followed Darya to talk to Henry, and Milo and Elm were still at the door, all with either confused looks or warm smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, Jesse’s heart still sank. He could barely feel his hands and his legs were frozen in place while his mind was racing. He couldn’t feel like that, not after he worked so much on himself to change, not after such a long time. For a horrible few minutes, he felt like he was 25 again, like he had just lost Cecilia and still had hope of saving her. His vision blurred as he saw Darya introduce the children to Surya and Henry. His reflexes kicked in and he ran to his shack. He closed the door shut and paced around, gripping his head, trying to calm himself down. Once more, he closed his eyes tight and forced himself to breathe slowly. He had indeed changed. He had matured and learned new skills, both physically and mentally. He was stronger in almost every regard; he was a changed man. At least that’s what he kept repeating to himself. His old wounds had opened back up and they felt anew, horribly so.

“Jesse?” called out a soft voice, tearing the demon away from his thoughts.

Darya hadn’t opened the door, only gently knocked on it, but something in Jesse screamed.

“Do you need something?” she asked genuinely worried for him.

“Go away!” he cried. “Take the kids and your wife and leave me alone!” his voice trembled, his face had gotten contorted by a deafening pain.

Silence met his words. Jesse held his breath for a moment, waiting from the fateful sound of her steps fading away. Instead, Darya opened the door, entered the shack, and closed it behind her gently.

“Go away,” Jesse whispered, half-believing his words.

“I won’t.” she answered firmly. “Not when you’re like this.”

Darya kneeled next to him, laying her gentle gaze on him.

“I’ve gone away for long enough.” she said.

Jesse’s eyes fell on her now ungloved hands. He thought about the green that used to cover them, almost appearing in front of his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “You didn’t deserve it.”

“You were worth it .” she replied. “I wouldn’t change my decision for anything.”

Tears flooded down Jesse’s face once more, Darya hugged him, keeping him safe and sound in her embrace, letting him let go of all of his pain. Slowly but surely that screaming voice inside of him finally made a sound. It overcame his voice and his body. It felt like a decades-old pressure was finally released. Neither of them knew for how long they stayed like that, but it only ended when Jesse’s cries finally died down, letting a heavy blanket of exhaustion lay on him.

“We should go back outside.” she said.

Jesse nodded back, his eyelids becoming too heavy yet forcing them open. Darya sat up and helped Jesse to do the same. She led him to the door and opened it. For a moment, the daylight blinded him, making his eyes hurt and squint. In a matter of seconds, he got used to it and could clearly see his surroundings.

“You don’t have to be alone.” Darya said as she led him back to the house, opening the door on a strange scene for his lonely self.

Milo and Surya were continuing the kitchen work he had started, all the while Elm played with a piece of moss and Henry sat there, observing everyone. A smile lit up Elm and Milo’s faces as they saw Jesse in the doorway.

“Hungry?” asked Surya.

Jesse nodded back. Something in him felt at peace, for the first time in a while. Jesse sat down next to Elm and Darya went to help Surya and Milo to bring the food over. Elm nudged the demon gently and handed him a piece of moss. He hesitantly took it and was taken by how the texture felt under his fingers. It was as if the more he stroked it, the more his brain calmed down and his worries went away, at least for a little while. Elm smiled at the sight and happily stroked hers. Jesse’s eyes fell on the food as they brought it to the table. There was the porridge Jesse had started earlier that morning, and next to it were flatbreads and jams, Surya smiling as she presented her addition to the breakfast table. They sat down and ate. Jesse observed the scene. Everyone was talking, asking for an ingredient or asking if someone wanted one. The air was light and for a moment; he thought that this was the closest to a family he had ever been, even if they had known each other for a maximum of a few hours. Darya was speaking with her wife while Henry and Milo had a small talk about the camp and how Darya had healed him the night he came there. For a moment Jesse felt alone. He was only eating his food, not speaking to anyone. He felt isolated; he wanted to speak but his mind wasn’t strong enough for it yet, not after what had just happened. His eyes traveled around the table before they fell on Elm. She too was eating silently, happily eating her porridge and her flatbread. From time to time, she rocked from side to side with a smile on her face, happy about the food’s taste and texture. She looked back at Jesse, feeling his wondering eyes on her, and smiled at him before going back to her food, leaving the man perplexed.

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“What worries me the most right now is Milo,” said Darya to her wife. “His wound is gone.”

Henry and Surya stopped eating.

“What do you mean, ‘gone’?” asked Surya before Henry could.

“It’s just not there, like it never happened.” she said, still shaken by it.

“That’s impossible.” Henry said, “You gave him stitches, it should still be there,”

“Well, it’s not.” Darya answered.

The fact still deeply disturbed her. Even if the greatest disciple of Elephteria had healed him, something would still be here, and she doubted the goddess in person would have come during the night to heal his wound for seemingly no reason.

“Breeze did it.” said Elm in-between bites of her food, still rocking from left to right a little.

The room fell silent, everyone looking at her puzzled. The girl felt the uneasiness and lifted her head from her bowl of porridge. A deep feeling of guilt settled in her stomach. Maybe she had said something bad again without knowing why or how.

“Breeze?” asked Surya, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

“Yes, they’re a spirit that came by yesterday morning to help us. They’re very nice to have done that.” she announced through her thick accent.

The room was even more silent.

“Elm,” Darya stopped for a moment, unsure about how to plan her sentence. “I know some people from Ektan and the surrounding regions think spirits are real but they're bedtime stories.” Darya felt now more concerned for the young girl than anything else.

“It’s like saying you saw a dracea up north, it can’t happen, Elm.” added Surya.

Elm bowed her head, frustrated and confused. How could they tell her what she had seen was a lie? She knew she wasn’t lying. The girl stood up from the table in anger and hurried away, opening the door and forcing herself to not slam it behind her.

“What did I say?” asked Surya, baffled.

“I’ll go see her,” said Milo as he followed her.

The boy found Elm under the same tree they had slept under at their arrival. She had her back against it and she had brought her knees up to her chest, hugging them to maintain them up, and resting her head on it. As he approached, Milo could see her shoulders being shaken by sobs as her glistening cheeks made themselves more and more obvious as he approached her. Without a word, he sat in front of her, picking at the grass. He waited with her until her sobs died down.

“I know what I saw was real, Milo.” she held in the remnant of a sob, “I grew up with them around me, I know what they look like.” she said a desperate look in her eyes.

“I believe you,” he said.

Milo’s words calmed her down, but she couldn’t trust them fully. If spirits were only bedtime stories, how could they ever see them? Elm thought deeply for a moment.

“Follow me outside tonight, you’ll see them.” she said, determined.

Milo nodded back, unsure of what he could say or if he even had to say anything. Until now, he hadn’t seen her like this, and he didn’t dare go against her with the look she had her eyes. She knew something he didn’t, and it touched his curious side deeply.

Darya had turned her head toward the recently closed door, worry filling her as she thought of the look in Elm’s eyes. She knew it all too well; she used to have the same one when her Ma was still alive. Somewhere in her, hope that Milo would calm her down made her worry smooth out.

“These kids need to be somewhere safer.” muttered Jesse.

Darya turned her head back around at the words.

“Milo’s family was in the camp and Elm’s merchant group has probably fled Salnas by now,” said Surya. “And we can’t put them back in Salnas after what happened.”

“I know a place.” intervened Henry, “It’s a small village around a two days' march from here, Rosenbush.”

“Isn’t that near Murkley Manor?” Darya asked.

“Well, yes, but the Order won’t think of finding them there, won’t they? It’s only a few houses big.”

“Do you know for sure you’ll find somewhere to keep them if it’s that small?”

“It’s been abandoned for a few years now, they’ll just need to keep quiet.”

Darya’s brows knotted in worry. As much as she wasn’t sure of that plan, she couldn’t find a better one yet.

“Talking about the Order, something was strange about them.” Surya spoke. “They almost all had swords in terrible shape and most of them looked untrained, not the noble people you told me about.” she said to Darya. “They also had a big burly man guiding them and were talking about someone called Viper.”

Jesse gulped at the mention of the man.

“You know him?” asked Surya, suspicious of the demon’s reaction.

“Well, yes…” he answered, lowering his head in guilt. “I’ve been a thorn in his side for a little while now, he used to be a low-ranking officer in the Dobrin army and joined the order as soon as Leo fired every Order member from her ranks.”

“Who’s Leo?” asked Surya, just as perplexed as Henry was by the mention of the name.

“What has she done?” asked Darya, covering Surya's question.

“As soon as she was crowned, she dissolved the Council and had every Order member of the court arrested and executed in Ravenwood. Those who were smart enough cowered and hid, while others stayed and tried to assassinate her multiple times. They got executed pretty fast. She’s despised by many nobles, but she has the support of Saoudal, the Frozen Grounds and the Blazing Lands.” he cleared up for her.

“Wait, ‘Leo’ is Queen Leana?” asked Henry, afraid to ask more.

“Yes,” Darya and Jesse answered with every ounce of normalcy.

Questions, all more strange than the other, coursed through Henry's head, all caused by the casualty of the Queen’s nickname. Who in their right mind would give such a nickname to the Queen? And act like it was normal? Who were those people? For the first time, Henry and Surya’s eyes locked, the same amount of surprise in either of them.

“If she’s this isolated, she mustn’t be aware of the Viper and his men. Rallying up peasants instead of nobles and then causing a revolt is the best way to regain the crown and place someone on their side in the throne, since assassination won’t work.” Darya thought aloud.

“I agree, and with the army dwindling from day to day, she can’t be that powerful for much longer.” added Jesse.

“She needs help.” Darya said gravely, her green eyes boring into Jesse’s, knowing the weight her words caused on him.

“Wait, wait, help the Queen?” Henry stood up, the chair screeching behind him as he pushed it away from him. “Why would any of us ever do that?!” his anger seeped through his calm demeanor for a moment, raising eyebrows across the table. Henry took in their looks, calming down a little. “It’s her fault people are going hungry, they’ve been coming to us with sicknesses and wounds a good diet would fix, all because of her stupid war on the Order-”

“These men had it coming!” Jesse shouted back at Henry, his heart filling with an irrepressible rage and pain, “You do not know what they did and still do to us!”

Henry stopped talking, Jesse’s voice boomed throughout the small house with a force he had rarely experienced, leaving him almost frozen.

“These men,” he spat out, disgust on his face, “killed and tortured people, my people, people from your camp, Darya’s people, Elm’s people! They repeatedly hunt us down at night to make things out of us and then throw us away like we’re toys!” he took in a shaky breath as he fought his anger back as well as he could. “As much as I hate her, our common enemy is as good of a reason to help her as any.” he finished, his voice finally calmer.

Henry sat back down, a look of guilt on his face, his head bent down in defeat.

“You can’t help her without a plan,” said Surya, breaking the heavy silence. “With how she’s dealt with them already, we can’t trust her to not start killing her people in a witch hunt.”

“She was alone when she made those decisions, she won’t be anymore.” asserted Jesse, his determined look almost convincing Surya.

“Faith in someone is never the better plan.” she sighed, knowing she wouldn’t go anywhere with him.

After that discussion, once Elm and Milo came back home, they decided Henry would take the children to the safety of Rosenbush while Surya, Darya, and Jesse went to Alvoort to help the Queen. Naturally, Darya raised her concerns about how Jesse would walk around the nobler part of Alvoort and not be spotted as a demon, all she had in return was a well placed ‘don’t worry about it’ and a wink from Jesse.

Milo felt someone gently shake him awake. When he opened his eyes and saw Elm’s two-toned face in front of him, he knew it was time. Trying to not make a sound, the young boy put his shoes on and took a random coat from Jesse’s rack, hoping he could shield himself from the crisp autumn night. Elm stayed in her eternal bandages and short vest, seemingly never afraid of the cold. The both of them quietly left the house, closing the creaky door softly on their way out. Elm grabbed Milo’s hand and guided him toward the limit of the clearing. Milo’s heartbeat picked up, hoping he wouldn't have to run through the woods again.

After a few minutes of walking, Milo was about to ask where they were going when Elm turned around and shushed him. They stopped walking, and she pointed at the treetops. The young boy lifted his head up and he couldn’t believe his eyes. Little glowing creatures were floating gracefully, like flowing water toward an unknown destination. They glowed of light either blue or yellow, some even orange and green. From where he was standing, the light they emitted was almost too bright to see their true forms, making them look like little fluffy balls of light. Elm smiled widely as she saw the wonder on Milo’s face.

“Are these?-”

“Yes,” she answered excitedly. “Do we follow them?” she asked.

Milo turned around to face her, nodding more wildly than he thought he could, a graceful smile stretching his lips. Elm guided him once more, following the creatures. The more the couple followed them, the more creatures added themselves to the flow, and before he knew it, they illuminated the forest.

“Look,” she said.

Milo bumped into her, disturbing the peaceful scenery for a moment. As he was about to apologize, his eyes followed Elm’s and in the middle of that forest stood elderstones. He had heard and seen his fair share of them, the arch at the entry of Salnas being one. Most of them had clear images depicting gods and people, but some were marked with ancient sigils and languages that had lost all meaning to short-lived races.

“It’s an entryway.” Elm described. “We aren’t meant to cross it, but they are.”

The elderstones formed a little cave, almost like a house in which the little creatures engulfed themselves and never got out of, always going in. Standing on the side of the elderstones was a humanoid form. She seemed to be made of pure light, her hands and naked feet were see through and she had swirling marks all around her body that seemed to glow as well. Her eyes seemed to be fixated on the entrance, guarding the creatures that entered the sacred place. Her body was tall, she had long white dread that cascaded down her back and she was dressed like a queen, supporting an elvish crown on her brow and a delicate veil wrapping her body. Milo couldn’t tear his eyes off of her, her beauty astounded him, so much so that he didn’t realize her pupilless eyes were now boring into his, a look of longing pain in her eyes.

“Head back home children,” she said, her voice echoing softly in the air. “This is not a place for the living, you’ll be here in due time.”

A shiver ran through Milo’s body. Something deep in his stomach churned, like an irrepressible will to run, and yet the beauty of it all held him here. The boy could only move when Elm dragged him by the hand, away from the scene and back towards the house.

“You too.” she spat out as soon as the children were out of earshot, her grace replaced by anger and venom.

As they walked back, Milo’s head was full of questions, all running around in his head, and none could properly form into sentences.

“Gaelin,” said Elm. “She guides spirits into the afterlife.”

Milo’s face dropped. A goddess guiding so many souls would mean-

“The camp’s massacre is why there were so many of them.” Elm added gloomily.

Milo’s eyes fell to the ground. So many spirits, so many colors. He realized the colors were a god’s mark. They all had a place to go in the afterlife, but now that he thought about it, where would he go? He hadn’t heard of any god taking care of unmarked souls, and he had yet to let any god mark him since his family didn’t have any. A deep anxiousness came upon him, he felt like his heart was falling down a bottomless hole, filling him with existential fear.

“Milo?”

Elm turned around to face him, he had stopped dead in his tracks, a look of doom on his face.

“What happens if you don’t have a god?” he weakly asked, hoping the question wouldn’t have an answer.

“Not everyone has a god.” she answered, Milo lifted his eyes from the ground to meet hers. “My family worships spirits, and when we die, we’ll stay here as one of them and help the people who need it, just like Breeze.”

She said it so simply, as if it was an obvious truth, as if she was certain it would happen. For a little while longer, Elm and Milo walked back home, Elm still holding his hand to guide him. The boy found it strange that whenever they needed to go somewhere or to flee, they almost immediately held hands. With anyone else, it would feel awkward, as if they were still small children, yet with her, it felt natural, like a deep expression of trust and sympathy. He took a moment away from his thoughts to feel Elm’s hand in his. Her hand felt smooth to the touch, like a soft leather, and pretty cold. She wasn’t the first person he met that had icy hands, most of the children he guarded during the day had them, even in summer. Milo mindlessly brushed his thumb back and forth on the back of her hand, enjoying the feeling of her skin against his, causing the young girl to hide her face from him. The touch did not feel awful, but she didn’t know how to answer it. She thought she wanted to blush but all she could do was let a gracious smile stretch her lips. Once they got back home, they exchanged a silent ‘goodnight’ and fell back asleep, trying to prepare themselves for the two days of walking they would have to start at dawn.